19 Nov 2010

The Seiyuu of AFA X

Last year's AFA had the entire cast of K-ON! at the live dubbing session. This year we had Kana Hanazawa. Both are awesome in their own right, but what can we expect at future AFAs?

Seeing last year's biggest thing was K-ON! on Animax, I fully expected Fairy Tail seiyuu this year, but was pleasantly surprised that they invited Kana Hanazawa. This year they seemed to be rocking the Black Rock Shooter theme, driving up interest for the sequel and Huke's (the original illustrator of Black Rock Shooter) AFA appearance next year. So it seems to me that these seiyuu appearances are promotional material for upcoming stuff rather than just following the latest trends (Animax was on a media blitz with their broadcasting of K-ON! last year).

My best educated guess for next year's live dubbing would be Ayana Taketatsu of K-ON! fame. Yes, the one and only Azu-nyan. Sure, there might be some personal bias in my answer, but Ayana Taketatsu is without a doubt an up and coming star. Her role in K-ON! has launched her career into high gear, appearing in everything from BakaTest to Oreimo, and even Kiss x Sis. She only appeared on the voice acting scene in 2009 but now stars in 3 concurrent anime this season.

azu-nyan~!

Of course, they might not go along with her because she was already here for AFA in 2009 as part of K-ON!. If they want to go for something new, they might as well target the female audience with Tomokazu Sugita (Kyon in Haruhi, Hoshi in Arakawa, and Gintoki in Gintama).

Or they could go for some of these other popular seiyuu such as:

Fukuyama Jun, the awesome voice of Watanuki from xxxHolic.

Tsundere princess Rie Kugimiya (of Shana and Toradora fame)!

Or the awesome Mamoru Miyano, the voice of Light Yagami from Death Note.

Honestly, I'll be happy if any of these seiyuu come down for a live dubbing session, especially Rie Kugimiya or Ayana Taketatsu, but Tomokazu Sugita would be cool too!